Nabunturan to host Cinema Rehiyon 9

Nabunturan, Compostela Valley – National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) will hold Cinema Rehiyon in the municipality of Nabunturan on August 22-27, 2017 anchoring the theme: No Walls No Ceilings.

Cinema Rehiyon is a national film festival, which showcases the harvest of the best films from the regions. It is the flagship program of NCCA Cinema Committee and is being supported by the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP). On its 9th staging, the annual non-competition film festival will be hosted by the Nabunturan Municipal Tourism Council, Inc.(MTCNI) and the Local Government Unit of Nabunturan.

MTCNI is the organizer of the Nabunturan Independent Film Exhibition (NABIFILMEX). The Provincial Government of Compostela Valley, Department of Education Compostela Valley, and Department of Tourism also extended their assistance in hosting this once-in-a-lifetime event in the province.

Cinema Rehiyon 9’s most unique feature is the alternative movie screening considering that Nabunturan has no formal cinema. It will have a nightly open-air screening using a 20-feet inflatable screen brought by the Open Air Cinema Foundation, which will be mounted in front of the Municipal Plaza.

Audience can bring their mats and sprawl over the lawn to watch award-winning films from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. There will also be “Lakbay-Sine”, screenings mounted in the barangays using the Davao Cinematheque truck to bring film appreciation closer to the grassroots level. Function halls will be transformed into makeshift cinemas for day time screenings.

A total of 98 short films and 12 full length films will be showcased.

The 40th Gawad Urian and QCinema International Film Festival 2016 Best Picture Women of the Weeping River (2016) by a Mindanaon filmmaker Sheron Dayoc will be screened as the opening film. It is about two women in a remote Muslim community confronting an escalating feud, which also won Sheron Dayoc the Gawad Urian Best Director award.

The list of full length films include Best Picture awardees from different film festivals: Ned’s Project (2016) by Lem Lorca in CineFilipino; Paglipay by Zig Dulay; 2 Cool 2 b 4gotten (2016) by Petersen Vargas in Cinema One Originals 2016; Sunday Beauty Queen (2016) by Baby Ruth Villarama in Metro Manila Film Festival; and Tu Pug Imatoy (2016) by Arbi Barbarona in Sinag Maynila Film Festival 2017.

Cinema One Originals Best Documentary Film Forbidden Memory (2016) by Teng Mangansakan, Lily (2016) by Keith Deligero, Baboy Halas (2016) by Bagane Fiola, and Patay na si Hesus (2016) by Victor Villanueva will also be screened.

Forums are also organized for CR9 starting off with “How they do it: Journey of full length filmmakers from the Regions” on August 23, 2017, wherein the directors of the full length films will share their experience to the younger generation of filmmakers. The next forum on August 24, 2017 is “Cinema Rehiyon: Quo Vadis?” to be attended by the festival directors and all the delegates. This aims to evaluate the current state of the regional film making movement and its impact in national development. On August 25, 2017 is the Masters class on Production Management and Distribution by successful independent producers Bianca Balbuena and Moira Lang.

Also dotting CR9 is the “Pabonggahan Filmmathon”, a 24-hour film making contest, which is co-organized by the Mindanao Films & Television Development Foundation.

The event will be punctuated by the groundbreaking of the Nabunturan Cinematheque, which will be constructed by the Film Development Council of the Philippines on the 800 square-meter lot provided by the Local Government Unit of Nabunturan. (Marga Melendres, LGU Nabunturan)